Sprinters shine at Don Kirby Elite Invitational
Track and field had another successful showing in its final meet before the indoor postseason.
By KISHNEET KAUR
With the Big Ten Indoor Championships approaching, the USC track and field team was looking to score big at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational held last weekend in New Mexico. And, score big they did: the weekend was a blur of personal bests and broken Trojan records, headlined by first-place finishes from junior Madison Whyte and senior Dajaz DeFrand.
After earning Big Ten Women’s Track Athlete of the Week honors for her dominant meet at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic, Whyte stayed hot with a first-place finish in the 200-meter, running a time of 22.66. She recorded the third-fastest time in USC history and is currently ranked fourth in the NCAA.
Two other Trojans — senior Christine Mallard and sophomore Rachael Uvieghara — joined her in the top eight, with Mallard taking third place and Uvieghara in seventh.
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On the men’s side, junior Edward Nketia took sixth place, bringing home a new personal best of 20.87.
The freshman men came in strong, with notable performances from Cordial Vann and Jack Stadlman. Vann tied the USC freshman 60-meter indoor record of 6.60 seconds, matching Brendan Stewart’s time from 2019.
Meanwhile, Stadlman broke the USC 400-meter freshman record with a time of 45.51, besting Zach Shinnick’s previous record of 45.81 set in 2018. Stadlman’s performance was also the fourth fastest time in the NCAA so far this season.
For the women’s 60-meter, USC came to conquer: Three Trojans — DeFrand, sophomore Mia Brahe-Pedersen and sophomore Olivia Pace — finished in the top eight. DeFrand bolted her way to first place with a time of 7.15 seconds, followed by Brahe-Pedersen in fourth and Pace in sixth.
Graduate student Asjah Atkinson conquered the women’s 60-meter hurdles, taking fourth place with a time of 8.17 seconds.
The Trojans placed fifth in the women’s 4×400 relay, with Mallard, Pace, freshman Joelle Trepagnier and freshman Madison Mosby recording a time of 3:35.18.
On the field, senior Elias Gerald showed out in the men’s high jump with a third-place jump of 2.13 meters. Senior Matteo Mitchell took fifth in the men’s weight throw with an 18.84-meter mark, and sophomore Avery Lewis earned a new personal best in the women’s long jump at an even 6.00 meters for tenth place.
The invitational mainly consisted of short-distance runners, as the Trojans’ distance runners were busy racing at the Husky Classic in Seattle, Washington. Freshman Oluwatosin Awoleye and sophomore Chase McCallum represented USC in the 800-meter, with Awoleye running a new personal best at 2:06.44.
With the indoor championship season on the horizon, USC has big shoes to fill from last season’s squad: the men’s team took home its first national championship in 53 years, while the women’s team was close behind in third place. USC and Arkansas were the only two schools to have both their men’s and women’s teams placed in the top three.
The Trojans will head to the Big Ten Indoor Championships from Feb. 26 to Feb. 28 at Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion in Indianapolis, Indiana.
